NTV. The Itogi (Summary) programme, 1997. Item authored by Alim Yusupov.

This scene was shot by our television company last autumn in Sochi at the tennis tournament of high-ranking fans of this sport, called ‘Bolshaya Shlyapa’ (Big Hat). This tournament, though, has quite a distant attitude to sports, as many believe. The mix of participants and spectators rather reminds of a certain elite club for politicians and businessmen, who, receiving an invitation to the tournament, also get access to the right people who influence decision-making at the state level. For instance, these sirs, most likely, foreigners first have a conversation with Alexander Korzhakov, the President’s security chief, and the next day have seats at the same stand with the President. Shamil Tarpischev was one of those ‘right people.’ In spite of his seemingly insignificant position – Minister of Sports – he, however, possessed another advantage: He was the President’s personal coach and was considered his favourite. Notice how ‘offhandedly’ Shamil Tarpischev takes the Russian President by the hand. As our sources in the enforcement authorities believe, it was Tarpischev who played an important role in involving the criminal structures, in particular, the Izmaylovo gang, for protection on the territory of Russia of the interests of the Cherny brothers, owners of Trans-CIS Commodities Co., which currently holds almost complete control over the aluminium market of the country. The photograph which was published in the perfectly legal magazine ‘Tennis +’ depicts a private company which consists, if you examine it thoroughly, of rather interesting people. Besides Shamil Tarpischev, it portrays Alik Tokhtakhunov, the person widely known in the criminal community under the name ‘Taiwanchik’; the other person is one of the leaders of the Izmaylovo criminal gang Anton Malevsky. In 1993, Malevsky was detained for illegal possession of arms, but in spite of the gravity of the accusation brought against him, he was released on bail and evaded investigation. All this, however, didn’t hinder him, as our sources testify, from walking around freely in the lobby of the Kremlin Cup tournament. Some time later, Malevsky left Russia for good and settled down in Israel. The criminal case against him was soon suspended and resumed only in mid-December of the bygone year of 1996.

And now you can see the most recent scene. On the 2^nd of December, last year, i.e. a month ago, Shamil Tarpischev and Leonid Zinkevich, one of the Tennis + magazine editorial staff, arrived at the Israeli airport Ben Gurion. There they were warmly greeted by Anton Malevsky, who was under investigation, and Mikhail Cherny, one of the brothers of the notorious owners of Trans-CIS Commodities Co. Travelling in two Mercedeses owned by Malevsky and Cherny, the visitors set out to the Dan hotel, where they settled in the presidential suite worth one thousand dollars per night. During a few days, Cherny and Malevsky entertained Tarpischev and Zinkevich in Tel Aviv and on the Dead Sea. Certainly, it cannot be denied that Tarpischev, Cherny, and Malevsky, are purely on friendly terms, but Shamil Tarpischev has recently been not just a private individual, but the minister of sports, the President’s private coach, and just a person in his attendance. Meanwhile, Tarpischev doesn’t feel shy about maintaining close relations with the representatives of the criminal community; for instance, in the latest issue of the Litsa (Faces) magazine, the former minister of sports ingeniously confessed to having warm feelings, for one, to Taiwanchik, calling him his friend. However, besides the fact of publicly compromising Tarpischev of having contacts with Malevsky as the person, who was evading investigation, and Cherny whose name has been mentioned in the press many times in connection with the use of forged advice notes, illegal export transactions, there are a few specific circumstances. The British company Trans World Group, which carried out the strategic policy on conquering the aluminium market of Russia, in particular, via the plants of the Cherny brothers, was also the official sponsor of the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament organised by Tarpischev and his magazine ‘Tennis +.’ According to some data, some parts of aluminium shipments abroad were also performed via the National Sports Foundation. The list of people we have available, who were issued passes to the Kremlin as Shamil Tarpischev’s visitors also confirms the existence of certain business relations of the former minister of sports and the entrepreneurs related to the aluminium market. For instance, just a week before his death, Oleg Kantor, Director of Yugorsky bank came to a meeting with Tarpischev; he was killed in Snegiri near Moscow on the 20^th of July, 1995. As our sources in the Krasnoyarsk Federal Security Agency report, in the course of some talks between the aluminium plant managers, the name of Alexander Korzhakov was also mentioned as the name of the person able to assist in the complex situation of the struggle between the gangs for influence on the industry. All those fine links connecting the former retainers of the President and Oleg Soskovets, can to some degree, apparently explain Boris Yeltsin’s decision, which surprised many people, to give the sack to Korzhakov, Barsukov, and Soskovets in one foul swoop.